Healwell

Niki Munk, Ph.D., LMT, is Chair of the Department of Health and Rehabilitation at UIPUI. She is a clinically trained and licensed massage therapist and completed her doctoral training in gerontology at the University of Kentucky. Munk is one of 13 international fellows in the International Complementary Medicine Research Leadership Program at University Technology Sydney (UTS): Australian Research Centre in Complementary and Integrative Medicine (ARCCIM). In addition, Munk is a Massage Therapy Foundation Trustee and co-investigator on the VA-funded TOMCATT study, which examines care-ally assisted and therapist provided massage for veterans with chronic neck pain. Prior to beginning her appointment as faculty at the School of Health & Human Sciences, Munk worked in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of Kentucky on the KYPROS study which examined real-world massage therapy for primary care patients with chronic low back pain. Before her research career, Munk was the associate then program director for the Lexington Healing Arts Academy in Lexington, Kentucky, and president of In Touch Inc., which provided massage therapy for older adults in their homes, care centers, or in professional therapeutic space. Munk’s research explores real-world massage therapy for chronic low back pain, trigger point self-care, massage for amputation related sequelae, and the reporting and impact of massage related case reports among other projects. Among Munk’s various academic duties, she is a core professor in the school’s doctoral program in health and rehabilitation sciences and teaches the aging-related courses in the undergraduate health sciences program. Munk was recognized for her excellence in teaching and mentoring with the 2018 IU Indianapolis Trustees' Teaching Award.